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(extracts from p.
160-163, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Bantam. 1995.)
Whenever people come
together to collaborate, whether it be in an executive planning meeting or as
a team working toward a shared product, there is a very real sense in which
they have a group IQ, the sum total of the talents and skills of all those
involved. And how well they accomplish their
task will be determined by how high that IQ is. The single most
important element in group intelligence, it turns out, is not the average IQ
in the academic sense but rather in terms of emotional intelligence. The
key to a high group IQ is
social harmony. It is this ability to harmonize that, all other
things being equal, will make one group especially talented, productive, and
successful and another -- with members whose talent and skill are equal in
other regards -- do poorly.
The idea that there is a
group intelligence at all comes from Robert Sternberg, the Yale psychologist,
and Wendy Williams, a graduate student who were seeking to understand why
some groups are far more effective than others. After all, when people come
together to work as a group, each brings certain talents -- say, a high
verbal fluency, creativity, empathy, or technical expertise. While a group
can be no "smarter" than the sum total of all these specific strengths,
it can be much dumber if its internal workings don't allow people to share
their talents.
… One surprise
was that people who were too eager to take part were a drag on the group, lowering
its overall performance; these eager beavers were too controlling or
domineering. Such people seemed to lack a basic element of social
intelligence, the ability to recognize what is apt and what inappropriate in
give-and-take. Another negative was having deadweight, members who did not
participate.
The single most
important factor in maximizing the excellence of a group's product was the
degree to which the members were able to create a state of internal harmony,
which lets them take advantage of the full talent of their members. … groups
with more friction were far less able to capitalize on having members of
great ability. In groups where there are high levels of emotional and social
static -- whether it be from fear or anger, from rivalries or resentments --
people cannot offer their best. But harmony allows a group to take maximum
advantage of its most creative and talented members' abilities.
(which group members do
best ie. the “stars”)
… organizational
savvy that the Bell Labs stars had mastered included effectively coordinating
their efforts in teamwork; being leaders in building consensus; being able
to see things from the perspective of others, such as customers or others on
a work team; persuasiveness; and promoting cooperation while avoiding
conflicts. While all of these rely on social skills, the stars also
displayed another of knack taking initiative -- being self-motivated enough
to take on responsibilities above and beyond their stated job -- and self-management
in sense of regulating their time and work commitments well.
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